By Yeats College Irish teacher Ms. Samantha Hogan
Overall, Leaving Cert Irish Examinations were well balanced between a trickier Irish Paper One and a very student-friendly Irish Paper Two.
The topics on the Listening Comprehension were pretty much in line with previous years. Excerpts were based on everything from climate, to the points system to Pelé the footballer! Advanced vocabulary was nicely interwoven with more basic vocabulary which gave students of all standards of Irish a chance to shine.
The Ceapadóireacht section of Paper One was not as straightforward, however. On first glance, the wording of the essay titles was significantly tougher than in the past couple of years. A few of the essay titles were quite niche, for example the problem of drugs and Irish in the digital world. As students will have settled into the exam however they will have eventually sought out the more general titles allowing them scope to write about the many topics they will have prepared throughout their studies.
Paper two was a very nice paper
The Reading Comprehensions were a very interesting read. The first comprehension was based on the life of Tom Crean, the Kerry explorer. The second comprehension was based on the year 2022, The European Year of Youth. The 6(a) and 6(b) questions accompanying both texts have appeared many times in previous years, therefore students will have been happy with the familiarity of these questions.
Students had a choice between ‘Oisín i dTír na nÓg’ and ‘Dís’ in the prose section, while the poetry section saw a choice between ‘An Spailpín Fánach’ and ‘Mo Ghrá-sa (idir lúibíní). The questions on both sections were very manageable and really didn’t deviate from the types of questions students will be familiar with from their past exam papers.
A Thig Ná Tit Orm had a nice question on Maidhc’s personality in the autobiography of his youth growing up in the Kerry Gaeltacht. Students will have liked this question, no doubt!
Best wishes to all students in the remaining exams,
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Samantha
